Yoga, as described in sacred texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads, views fear primarily as a manifestation of underlying mental afflictions and a misidentification with the physical body and ego. The key teachings see fear…
Over the millennia, yoga has absorbed wisdom from other belief systems, namely Buddhism. One such teaching, called shenpa, reflects our human “knee-jerk pattern of moving away from being present”*1. Each of us has our personal triggers that kick us into…
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) Both Peter Turchin, a Russian-American scientist and author, and Sarah Wilson, an Australian author and minimalist, agree that political…
All of life is a journey. We are carried along at life’s pace, whether we choose to run or sit still. Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Hunters of Dune The first half of my life, I spent my time…
Can you imagine a world where everyone is loved and loving? Now, can you imagine yourself loving everyone? Did your thoughts go to that one person in your life who is difficult to love and who possibly is not loving…
Although most western-culture dictionaries treat detachment and indifference as synonyms, they have a crucial difference. Their common element — non-reaction — is paralleled by indifference’s additional qualities — coldness, passionlessness, lack of feeling/sympathy. I thought my friend Chris said it…
Several weeks back, I began writing this four-part series in an attempt to describe a critical path for expanding one’s creative and spiritual growth. Over many years of personal research, my experiences taught me that creativity and spirituality are intimately interwoven. In fact, I often wonder if we are using two different words to describe the same “way of being.” This series of blogs dabbles at demystifying our human “being-ness” by outlining four foundational pillars that liberate creativity — awareness, deep-felt experience, deep collaboration and finally, this blog’s topic, creative expression.
In last week’s blog, I wrote about the five layers that comprise a human being — physical, energetic, mental/emotional, spiritual and joyful (my label). Much of my discourse focused on human energy, that invisible but felt experience of life force,…
Image by Dan In my past 30 years of personal growth, it became obvious that transforming fear into joy first meant relinquishing my addictions. Or, as Dr. Daniel Sumrok states, abandoning my ritualized compulsive comfort-seeking. When thought of as comfort…
At various times in our lives, each of us experiences the feeling we could do anything we desire. It’s a powerful and uplifting sensation, so much so, we can usually recall the last time we felt this way. Conversely, we…
When was the last time you experienced confusion? We all know that feeling of not being able to move forward on a project or make a decision to act. Maybe we are racked with self-doubt or simply lacking the knowledge…
I began my meditation practice in 1992, almost 30 years ago. Without question, meditation was and is instrumental in transforming my thoughts, feelings, words and actions. I have more mental, physical and creative energy in this second half of…
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